April 1, 1S70.] 



HAKWDICKE'S SCIE NC E- GOSSIP. 



89 



the medicinal properties of plants, I generally turn 

 to the most recent good authority on my shelves, 

 which happens at present to he Pereira's " Materia 

 Medica," edited by Dr. Fane (1S65). Here I find 

 of elm-bark that " it has now almost fallen into 

 disuse," and that " although it has been retained in 

 the Pharmacopoeia, no preparation of it has been 

 given." There must be some good reason for this, 

 as all its virtues— excepting its faculty of curing 

 broken bones — were set forth by Pliny (Nat. Hist., 

 book xxiv. c. 33), and have been reproduced by 

 botanists in general, up to the eighteenth century. 



I beg, Mrs. Watney's pardon for making her call 

 elm-bark highly nutritious, instead of highly astrin- 

 gent (which I have no doubt she would attribute to 

 the actual cause— a slip of the pen), and to assure her 

 that I have no intention of "shooting hard words," 

 at her. At the same time I do not like to see over- 

 much of " imagination " imported into natural- 

 history matters ; nor without concern can I watch 

 a "fauciful person " riding her " Pegasus " so as to 

 endanger both herself and others. In sucli a case, 

 I could wish her on a safer steed, singing cheerily — 



" Hi ho dobbin, gee ho dobbin, 

 Hi ho dobbin, gee up, and gee ho." 



I am obliged to Mrs. Watney for her explanation 

 why people fancy the Sackbut and the Sambuca 

 identical. As to why they should not he so con- 

 sidered, it might be discourteous to reply that my 

 answer is to be found in what I have already said 

 on the subject ; still it would be unreasonable to 

 ask you for space to go at length into what is but a 

 very dry and profitless subject. To be brief. 



What is a Sackbut ? 

 I quote the following answers : — 



1. An instrument of wind music. — Bailey's Dic- 

 tionary. 



2. A kind of pipe. — Johnson's Dictionary. 



3. A kind of trumpet. — Walker's Dictionary. 



4. A trombone. — Encyclopedia Britannica. 



6. Die Posaune. — Hilpert's Eng. Ger. Dictionary. 



Johnson, in addition to the Spanish name pointed 

 out by " G. H. H.," gives Er. Sumbuqtte; but I do 

 not find this word in Prench dictionaries. Levizac 

 gives Saquebute. 



What is a Sambuca? 

 I quote the following answers : — 



1. Sa^ik/;, a triangular instrument with four 

 strings. 



II. An engine of like form used in sieges. 



Liddell and Scott's Gr.-Eng. Lexicon. 



2. £a/</3<kjj, Ein dreieckiges Saiteninstrument. 



II. Eine Art von Belagerungsmachine. 

 Eost's Griechisch-Deutsches Schul- Worterbuch. 



3. Sambuca, a triangular stringed instrument. 



II. A machine of like form to a Sambuca, 

 used by besiegers ; a sort of bridge for storming 

 walls. White and Riddle's Lat.-Eng. Dictionary. I 



1. Sambuca, a harp, of oriental origin. Also the 

 name of a military engine used to scale the walls 

 and towers of besieged cities. It was called by 

 this name on account of its general resemblance to 

 the form of a harp. 



Smith's Dictionary of Antiquities. 



The illustration of the musical instrument in 

 Smith's dictionary represents the celebrated Theban 

 harp, a picture of which may also be found in 

 Knight's "Pictorial Bible," Ps. cviii. There is 

 another picture of it in Burney's " History of 

 Music," vol. i. 



I do not deny that the name Sackbut has ever 

 been applied to a stringed instrument. Such an 

 application may be found among the illustrations of 

 Winston's Josephus (Blackie & Sons). The same 

 application of the name Sackbut occurs in a note 

 in Knight's " Pictorial Bible " (Dan. Hi.), but in this 

 way : — " The word in the original is sabca ; whence 

 evidently the Greek cra/u/SuEij," which is then de- 

 scribed as a triangular stringed instrument. If 

 Mrs. Watney doubts the propriety of calling sabca 

 a sackbut, that is another matter, and has nothing 

 to do with the question whether the Sackbut and 

 the Sambuca are identical. I cannot express an 

 opinion as to the correct interpretation of the 

 Hebrew Scriptures, as I do not understand the 

 Hebrew language. 



In Eadie's " Dictionary- of the Bible," the Sackbut 

 is described both as a stringed instrument and a 

 trombone. In Good and Gregory's " Pantologia " 

 such confusion is alluded to, but the Sackbut is un- 

 hesitatingly set down as a trombone. 



Altogether, the general opinion seems to be that 

 the Sackbut is a w r ind, and the Sambuca a stringed, 

 instrument j and Mrs. Watney's argument does 

 not convince me that this opinion is wrong. 



R. H. A. 



[We hope that our correspondents will now 

 come to the conclusion that we have had enough of 

 this subject, and henceforth forbear to play on 

 "Sackbut" or "Sambuca." Only one person has 

 the privilege of a last word. It could not be denied 

 to a lady.— Ed. S.-G.] 



ZOOLOGY. 



PtOBix at Ease. — During the month of Feb- 

 ruary, a Robin visited the house of a friend of 

 mine every meal-time, and would go into the house 

 and sit upon the table. If the door was not open, 

 it would sit and sing till it gained admission. At 

 night it would stop and roost in a holly-bush that 

 hung up in the centre of the kitchen. It came 

 every night to roost for a fortnight ; once or twice 

 it tried to take its mate, but it would not go. It 

 never goes, now the snow has gone and the bush is 

 pulled down.— C. A. C. 



